I woke up from the dreamscape early and I checked my status and I had received several dozen skills, perk points and even attribute points for health and stamina. I moved over to Viree. "Viree! Wake up, it's time."
She groaned and I pushed her and prodded her. Eventually Viree she peeked her eyes open. "Wha? What time?"
"Time to head back to Solitude. Maro has went back on his deal with me. Let's go see what has become of the city."
Viree nodded and slowly got up. "You are lucky the sun is coming up."
I faked a gasp, "You would harm me! I'm hurt! Wounded!"
She rolled her eyes and started packing up the tent. Viree looked at me, "So what does this mean for us?"
I looked over at her and admired the view. I coughed and began explaining, "To put it simply, I have no idea. I have a feeling the Stormcloaks will be an issue and I will finally get something to do with that. However at the same time they might shack up and recollect their forces. As for the Dark Brotherhood they will owe me the favor despite me technically screwing them over. After that..."
She looked over and caught my gaze and raised an eyebrow. I closed my eyes and continued, "I am thinking about making a newspaper. With the emperor dead the news will spread. Which is why I am thinking about kicking the guild up a notch and actively report news and control rumors."
Viree nodded, "What's a newspaper? I mean like, I get what it is, but things aren't that simple with you."
I moved my head back and forth, "I get what you are asking, basically you copy the news down on several sheets of paper and pass them out to people so they can stay up to date on current events. Cyrodil has a few newspaper businesses. They all have problems though."
Viree picked up her bag and started down the trail with me, "I'm guessing they either copy the paper by hand or by some inefficient magic?"
I smiled, "Yes, some copy by hand and thus they only sell to noble houses and those who have the coin to buy. While the magic based ones are usually run by low tier untalented mages. In my version I would build a..."
Viree waited for me to look for the words i wanted to use. Once I did I continued, "it would be a machine similar to something the dwemer would make. I would likely enchant alphabetical notes that compress graphite onto the paper rather than ink which would ultimately print out news papers. The machine itself is called the printing press and I am pretty sure I could design it. The problem comes from the logistics."
We walked in silence for a bit before Viree spoke, "You need someone to run it, it would be large so you need a location for it and you need someone with magical aptitude great enough to fix it in your place."
I smiled and grabbed a hold of Viree's hand and shook it like she was a puppy giving me her paw. Viree slapped my hand away and stared me down. I looked at her innocently before responding, "Exactly that."
Viree paused and she brushed her hair to the side. "Hold on."
She twitched slightly, "Am I crazy or is it dead silent?"
We were closing in on Solitude's front gate and I looked around. I activated detection and noticed the oddity. "Everyone is grouped up it buildings. Come on."
We started dashing up the gate and I noticed the lack of a guard. Slamming into the gate I pushed it open and frowned. Blood trailed the streets, "Well shit."
Viree pointed, "I check in with Sorex and you check in with Aldis?"
I nodded and rushed up to the Castle Dour. As I got closer I could detect people moving things around. It was obvious who and what it was. Outside the temple were the priests healing injured soldiers while a few guards moved bodies.
I found captain Aldis quickly enough, "Aldis! What in the fuck happen here?"
His eyes went wide, "There you are! Where were you Vek?"
I jerked my hand backwards, "Camping outside the city with Viree. Some alone time... We came back and saw all the blood."
Aldis sighed, "Yeah, it is a rather fine mess. We were going to start washing the streets soon so citizens can roam again. As for the cause of the mess?"
Aldis sighed, "A right fucking mess. First it was an assassin, which led to the Penitus Oculatus running around the city. Most of them were killed in the scuffle, but it didn't end there. Once things got out of hand with them some people dressed in stormcloak attire started attacking people."
I raised an eyebrow, "Dressed?"
Aldis nodded and waved me over to one of the bodies. "Call me crazy, but I don't think they are stormcloaks."
The corpse Aldis showed me was a man covered in burns and skin defects. I frowned, "He was magically operated on. That's horrifying."
Aldis nodded, "Sybille, bless that woman identified them all as Altmer. Ears all trimmed, skin altered to appear more nord like and so on."
I looked up at him, "How did she identify them?"
He shrugged, "She took some of the bodies drained them of blood and passed them back. After that she wandered off with the blood and came back an hour later. Truth be told I was too scared to ask what she did with it. I assume she did some sort of magic to identify the blood."
I rolled my eyes, "It is always magic isn't it. Speaking of, I can preform some magic to create some rain to wash the streets if you want me to."
Aldis brighten, "That would be great!"
i looked back at the body, "You thinking what I am thinking?"
He sighed, "Unfortunately so."
I would need to run some ideas past General Tullius and Jarl Elisif. Looking at the cards here I suspect more than one person new about the emperor's assassination. "Aldis, what was the time frame between the assassination, the Penitus Oculatus and the Impersonators."
Aldis thought about it, "Well, Vittoria Vici was assassinated during her wedding. The Penitus Oculatus showed up started looking things over with us. Someone figured out where she was shot from, but as you can understand the assassin was gone."
He shook his head slightly, "We started getting people to calm down, but not long after we calmed everyone a Penitus Oculatus soldier started shouting. Not long after that they all started rushing through the city. Checking every house, every bush and some started harassing citizens. Not long after that though several..."
He looked around and leaned in, "Let's just call them Stormcloaks."
I nodded and Aldis continued, "The stormcloaks showed up and started attacking people. We were quick to put them down, but almost a dozen or so Penitus Oculatus members died." Aldis shook his head, "Even Commander Maro was found dead, though we nearly mistook him for someone else."
I raised and eyebrow again, "Why is that."
Aldis shook his head, "The body was mummified. He looked like a draugr. The life sucked right out of him."
So that was what happens to someone who breaks a contract of that caliber. I would need to keep that in mind for future reference. His entire being was converted into exp, perk points and attribute points.
Aldis interrupted my thoughts, "Actually can you take a look at the body? Sybille couldn't do anything with him, but maybe you could? He had to have been killed by magic, which means we might have a serious problem on our hands if you know what I mean."
I nodded, but I knew the cause. Perhaps I could still get Maro's body though? Turn him into a death knight? I shook my head at the thought, I wasn't that cruel. Maro's son would want the body to bury.
"I'll see what I can do. I'll kick up that rain once you get all this cleaned up."
He nodded, "I'll send some of the quicker guards out to tell everyone the details."
Over the next few days things will need to settle. Perhaps this would be a good time build the printing press? Telling that the Penitus Oculatus were mailing such a fuss, the emperor had to be dead. Making that the first headline would benefit the newspaper greatly.
I breathed in and got ready to cast Alter Weather for the first time ever.
----This took a while, put it simple I got sick. Like uber sick, a sinus infection of the highest caliber and the worst experience.-----